Comparison

AyeTides vs Coastal Explorer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

AyeTides

Access tide and current data for over 13,400 global locations without an internet connection. Plan your coastal activities with detailed daily events, interactive graphs, and station search options.

Highlights
  • Offline tide and current data
  • 13,400+ global locations
  • Interactive tide graphs
  • Station search by map, name, or location
  • Daily events in tabular form
  • Regular updates with new stations
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Never be without the tides again! You too can carry the tides in your pocket (or now, on your wrist!) as you walk along the shore, fly into a harbor, or sail off into the sunset. AyeTides displays tides and/or currents for over 13,400 locations worldwide and unlike many other tide apps, it does not require a network connection. With AyeTides you will never see those annoying ads or be asked to pay for additional features! Sailors, harbor pilots, beachcombers, nature photographers, and more use AyeTides to plan their outings on or around the world's oceans. And there are NO ads and NO subscriptions! Here are some of the things people are saying about AyeTides... "AyeTides is a quality professional product” "Your support has been the best I have experienced!" “As a harbor pilot in New York I’ve been using your excellent tide and current app” "I really appreciate the effort that you put into making AyeTides as accurate as it can be. It is a great program that has been very useful to us. I think we have 60 pilots using iPhones and iNavX and your app links in so well." "I am a ships Pilot in BC and use Aye Tides a lot and it has become invaluable.” You can see the day’s events in tabular form, or you can rotate the phone for an interactive graph that shows you the tide’s value at any point during the day. You can find a station on a map, by name, or based on your current location. AyeTides is updated regularly and stations are added whenever we find new data. We encourage our customers to contact us if you hare having any issues with the program so that we can help you. This app is designed to run on your iPhone or iPod Touch. While it will run on your iPad, it does not offer the additional features available with AyeTides XL, which was designed specifically for the iPad. If you have multiple devices, you may want to consider our bundle. You get both apps at a discount! This is the only place to install AyeTides. Other websites may look like they have AyeTides, but they do not. We only support iOS, any other version of AyeTides is not ours.

About

Coastal Explorer

Plan and log your cruises with detailed nautical charts and weather forecasts. Enhance your experience with a subscription for offline access, real-time navigation, and integration with marine electronics.

Highlights
  • View NOAA and USACE nautical charts
  • Create routes and waypoints
  • Cloud synchronization
  • ActiveCaptain points of interest
  • US Coast Pilot information
  • Marine weather forecasts
  • Tide and current predictions
Features
Read full description

Coastal Explorer™ is a sophisticated, full-featured, easy-to-use cruise planning and logging tool designed specifically for the pleasure boater. And it becomes a complete navigation system with the purchase of a chart subscription. The free Coastal Explorer app provides these great planning features: * View NOAA and USACE nautical charts for the US in vector format * Create routes, waypoints, boundaries, and other navigation objects * Cloud-synchronization of your navigation objects * ActiveCaptain points of interest * US Coast Pilot information * Marine weather forecasts and observations for the US * Tide and current predictions for the US Purchasing a chart subscription turns Coastal Explorer into a complete navigation system that includes: * Downloadable charts, tide and current predictions, Coast Pilot, and ActiveCaptain places for offline use * Interfacing with compatible networked marine electronics devices, including GPS, compass, depth sounder, anemometer, AIS, autopilot, and more * Customizable instrument panels * Route following with cross-track error, distance and time to go, estimated time of arrival, etc * Track and event recording * Integrated blogging Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. See our Terms of Service at https://www.rosepoint.com/legal/terms_of_service.

Screenshots

AyeTides4 screens
Coastal Explorer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: AyeTides at 87% against Coastal Explorer's 11%. AyeTides also leads on rating (4.8 vs 2.8) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). Coastal Explorer's advantage is price (Free vs $7.99) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.6). On update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Coastal Explorer is free to download; AyeTides costs $7.99 up front. Coastal Explorer sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. AyeTides asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

AyeTides holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AyeTides has 4.9K ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 87% of AyeTides's written reviews are positive against 11% of Coastal Explorer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

AyeTides ships an update every 3 weeks, Coastal Explorer every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
AyeTides versus Coastal Explorer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAyeTidesCoastal Explorer
Price$7.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (4.9K ratings) — better2.8 (16 ratings)
Positive reviews87.0% of reviews — better11.1% of reviews
Number of ratings4.9K — better16
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#135 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.614.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB54 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHahn Software LLCRose Point Navigation Systems, Inc

Customer experience

AyeTides

All ratings4,859 ratings
Positive97.2%
Neutral1.7%
Negative1.0%
Written reviews169 reviews
Positive87.0%
Neutral3.0%
Negative10.1%

Coastal Explorer

All ratings16 ratings
Positive43.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative56.3%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive11.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative88.9%

Bugs and requests

AyeTides

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes on latest iOS versions
  • Incorrect tide data for some locations
  • Landscape mode issues on iPad

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more detailed current/flow data
  • Improve graphical tide charts
  • Integrate with weather/marine forecasts
  • Enhance Apple Watch app functionality

Coastal Explorer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

AyeTides

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Coastal Explorer

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription$19.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription$49.991 Year

Questions

Is AyeTides free?
AyeTides costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Coastal Explorer free?
Coastal Explorer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, AyeTides or Coastal Explorer?
AyeTides is rated higher. AyeTides averages 4.8 out of 5 from 4.9K ratings, while Coastal Explorer averages 2.8 from 16 ratings.
Do AyeTides or Coastal Explorer have ads?
Neither AyeTides nor Coastal Explorer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, AyeTides or Coastal Explorer?
AyeTides ships an update every 3 weeks, and Coastal Explorer every 2 weeks. Most recently, AyeTides was updated on October 2, 2026 and Coastal Explorer on September 21, 2026.

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